The alleged sloppy work and anomalies have gripped the land development work for a coal-based power plant in southern Matarbari, officials said Friday.
The allegations are levelled against the state-owned Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited (CPGCBL), the project implementer.
They said the contractor in connivance with the staffers of the project implementing agency resorted to the irregularities involving the proposed site of the 1400 megawatts (mw) coal-fired power plant.
In the first phase, the company will set up a 700MW unit in a joint venture (JV) with Singapore-based firm. The JV is now engaged in the development work.
Estimated at Tk 8.16 billion, the first phase of the project involves land acquisition, development and feasibility study.
Meanwhile, the state company has recently sought for revision of the project, hiking the cost to Tk 10.26 billion.
The power division has recently formed a probe team, headed by one of its joint secretary, to investigate the issues relating to cost escalation.
Project insiders said the barbed-fence, constructed last year to retain the project site, was in poor state.
The pillar and barbed-fences were damaged in some places around the project site.
The government allocated Tk 4.9 million funds for constructing the barbed-fence at the original development project proposal (DPP).
Executive director (Planning and Development) of the company Md Nazrul Islam, however, told the FE over phone that he did not know about the anomalies or details of the project.
"I prepared the Development Project Proposal (DPP). Recently, I have revised the original DPP," he told the FE.
"Then I have sent it (revised version) to the planning ministry and the Planning Commission (PC) for its revision. But I don't know anything about the project execution in the field."
Another government monitoring team of the PC found anomalies and sloppy work at the project at Matarbari.
The contractor has built the embankment excavating earth from the site of the proposed plant, according to a preliminary monitoring report.
The contractor is supposed to procure necessary earthen materials from outside the project site.
The FE has received a copy of the report.
The commission's monitoring team said the contractor has violated the DPP.
Now it will require additional money for filling up the excavated land.
The team after visiting the site in February reported that this was "a clear violation" of the deal with the contractor and public procurement law.
The team assumed that the irregularities have been indulged in by a nexus between the site engineer of the project authority and the contractor.
The commission team also found the DPP has been revised by the company, bringing changes in some areas of the projects.
This resulted in cost spiral, the team said.
At first, it sought Tk 639.4 million funds for the rehabilitation and compensation of the affected people at Matarbari.
But in the revised DPP, the company has proposed raising the amount to Tk 2.01 billion for the same purpose.
The means cost escalated by a whopping 214 per cent.
Initially, the company followed the JICA's "Land Acquisition and Resettlement Action Plan 2013," where the cost was estimated much lower at Tk 639.4 million.
Now as it has followed the JICA-funded Matarbari power plant project model for the same work.
Besides, the company proposed acquiring 1,429.24 acres of land, 94.75 acres more from the 1,334.49 acres, estimated originally.
It enhanced the land acquisition cost to Tk 5.53 billion in the revised DPP from the original Tk 5.0 billion.
The PC team expressed its dissatisfaction over the lesser payment to the affected people.
The company and the district administration paid only 28 per cent of the total required fund until mid-2017.
Meanwhile, the company also spent Tk 2.66 million on the consultancy services for building a road, although there was no such provision in the original DPP.
The commission team said that the proposed Tk 1.7 million consultancy services for constructing only two km approach road "seemed higher".
The road located in an area that was not "so vulnerable".
The commission officials said nobody could spend money on a fresh work that is not included in the DPP.
In the original DPP, Tk 6.06 million had been earmarked as consultancy fees.
In the revised DPP, the company has now sought Tk 14.6 million higher funds for the consultancy services.
Another executive director (project) of the company Md Abdur Rouf told the FE they have sought revision of the project as they are forced to revise some components, considering the present reality.
He denied that corruption or anomalies took place.
"The contractor getting our conditional verbal order had excavated the land inside the project site instead of outside," he said.
"Obtaining verbal order of the company high-ups, we had allowed the contractor to excavate the land inside the project site to meet emergency," he told the FE.
But the condition is there to fill up the excavated land inside the site.
"The contractor is bound to follow the condition. Otherwise, we won't pay the bill," the executive director said.
A power division official said the ministry is investigating the anomalies.
"If it is proved, we will go for tough action against the persons involved," he told the FE, preferring anonymity.
A senior commission official said that the agency would proceed with the revision only after getting the investigation report of the power division.
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